


The Weight Of Spirit-Touch (and something more)

by QuenchiestCactusJuice99



Series: no longer what was (just what is) [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sokka (Avatar)-centric, Spirit Shenanigans, Spirit World, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:55:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23878777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuenchiestCactusJuice99/pseuds/QuenchiestCactusJuice99
Summary: In a world where Aang doesn’t defeat the Fire Lord, the spirits decide to take things into their own hands.There is a perfect opportunity right in front of them, after all.—Sokka isn’t a bender. He’s never been a bender, doesn’t know what it’s like to hold the weight of that spirit-touch his whole life, to let it sit in his soul and under his skin until it is normal, until it is natural and unremarkable, a piece ofhim.He can’t help. Not here. Not with this.Useless,he thinks.Again.But Tui and La, he has never felt it so keenly before.
Relationships: minor Sokka/Suki - Relationship
Series: no longer what was (just what is) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1720906
Comments: 38
Kudos: 185





	The Weight Of Spirit-Touch (and something more)

**Author's Note:**

> It’s finally done, thank Everything Holy. I was expecting to get this out wayy before now but damn, quarantine really got me dead in the water, huh. Anyway - this takes place in the same ‘verse as my fic stranger, stranger. You don’t have to read it for this to make sense, but feel free!
> 
> Oh, the working title for this was ‘prophets are just time-travelers in disguise’. Enjoy the word vomit, my friends

The invasion force has been stopped. Dealt with, whatever. Ba Sing Se has been re-conquered.

Aang is still fighting the Fire Lord. The lights are... new. Strange, and they reek of spirit-touch, heavy with otherworldliness. The red overwhelming the blue makes Sokka’s heart skip a beat in his chest, his breath catch in his throat, his nails dig into his arms.

Sokka isn’t a bender. He’s never been a bender, doesn’t know what it’s like to hold the weight of that spirit-touch his whole life, to let it sit in his soul and under his skin until it is normal, until it is natural and unremarkable, a piece of _him._

He can’t help. Not here. Not with this. _Useless,_ he thinks. _Again._ But Tui and La, he has never felt it so keenly before.

The blue shrinks to a pinprick and Sokka can’t make himself suck in a breath. Then- then the pinprick begins to expand again and the blue begins to clear out the awful red and Sokka can breathe again, even though he feels breathless, lightheaded.

He almost laughs in relief.

Then the red expands like a sea of blood called to coat the entire world, dyeing the sky and eating away at the blue like lava splashing up over its borders. The blue shrinks and shrinks and shrinks until suddenly-

It’s gone.

The spirit-energy lifts away, the suffocating pressure of the spirit-touch in the air evaporating like it was never there, and Sokka watches the body of the boy that was supposed to save them crumple lifelessly to the ground.

The world goes quiet, greyscale - Sokka feels numb and it seems as if everything in the world has frozen.

“What happened?” Toph asks. “Hey- blind, remember? What is it?”

Sokka chokes on the words _we lost_ and realizes how very close they are to the not-defeated Fire Lord. He’s not looking at them - just staring at the sky and gasping for breath and that feels odd for some reason, when Zuko says breath control is the most important part of firebending but Sokka can’t _think_ \- but that just means they need to- need to-

“If no one’s going to tell me, I’m going to find out,” Toph says stubbornly, and _jumps,_ no one fast enough to catch her.

Her bare feet hit the earth of the pillar, searching for heartbeats, and she _screams._

—

“You,” A voice hisses, curious. “You are blank, empty. You do not carry our touch?”

“We knew,” A second voice murmurs, “We knew we would need him. He has not been painted with the past. He is not tired, nor old. He is _New.”_

The whispery cacophony in the background ceases.

 _“New?”_ Another asks, hushed. “There has not been a Young One in the cycle since their realm toppled the scales, leaned the balance too far, took too much from the breeze-born. Are you certain?”

 _Are you certain? Are you certain?_  
The whispers echo.

“I am.”

“... then I suppose,” The first voice hisses again, reluctantly this time, “You may... proceed.”

“Young One,” The second voice calls. “Do you know who you are?”

Sokka tries to swallow, finds he does not have the ability. A glance down confirms what he already knew - his body cloaked in blue; insubstantial at best.

“I’m... Sokka,” He says, throat eerily still where vocal cords should be moving. He’s long since stopped questioning the workings of the Spirit World.

The whispers rise. “He really is-“ “-didn’t stumble at all-“ “-he’s not flickering-“

“You are a Young One,” The second voice says. “Your spirit is new and blank - you have lived only one life. _And_ you are untouched by our power.”

Sokka still feels numb. He almost tries to swallow again. “The Avatar...” He starts, and expects his voice to crack. It doesn’t. That would require his voice to exist, first, he thinks. “The Avatar is the only one who reincarnates,” He says, not quite a protest but probably closer to one than is wise when he doesn’t know what spirit he’s dealing with.

The second voice somehow manages to convey a smile when it says gently, “The Bridge is the only one who _remembers._ You, Young One... you were a surprise.”

“I know,” Sokka says honestly. “My parents thought I was-“

“No. You were a surprise in that you are the first of the New to arrive in much time, many of your human years.”

Sokka can’t think. He doesn’t know what to say. Why would a spirit lie to him? What would it gain? Nothing. Assuming, of course, it wasn’t a trickster or mischief-maker. What should he say? He should be interested, even if there is a chance he’s being tricked, in case it’s a powerful spirit he can’t afford to piss off, right? Show respect? _Not_ get smited?

“Who- who was the last?”

The silence is thoughtful. “An ash-born. A Fire boy. But his spirit did not return to the cycle. It still dwells in his un-grave, mute and restless.”

Sokka feels sick, even though he doesn’t think nausea really exists in the Spirit World. Or whatever in-between this is. “No one... no one gave him proper funeral rites.”

“No,” The spirit agrees. “They left him where he fell. The bones keep his spirit caged, now - sunk under dust and wear.”

Sokka doesn’t want to talk about this anymore. “Earlier- you said I was, uh. Untouched by your power?”

The third voice chimes in this time, sounding wonderstruck. _“Our_ power. All of ours. Do you know how rare you are?”

The first hisses yet again, awed. “Your ice-born sister is ocean-touched. Your ice-born mate was full of Tui’s light, his moon-life - your rock-born pack-cub holds the heavy hand of Hòutǔshén, settled into her very bones. Your dragon-elder is bathed in wreaths of hearth and your den-mother dragonling bears the mark of Agni’s chosen. Your rock-metal mate carries the experience of three thousand lives, and you, among them, have remained free of any mark or weight or touch, not even the vestiges of those who interact with the chosen we imbue. Even taken directly into our realm by the Wuchang Gui - the _Hei Bai,_ you left without a trace clinging to you.”

The second voice says, “Young One - you are truly New, truly untouched, truly pure of any of us. Even your New ash-born brother bore the mark of Agni’s favor. That is what makes you perfect.”

Sokka stiffens. “... perfect for what,” He says weakly.

“How can you remove what has not been granted? And why give what has not been given? You have lived but one life - and you are unmarked by any spirit’s touch. That alone allows a great many things. Live your life again, Young One. We enjoyed watching the first time. We will enjoy participating in the second.”

**Author's Note:**

> !! You read all the way to the end!! Well then I guess that means you either liked it or have impeccable willpower and/or pain tolerance.
> 
> If you’re comfy with letting me know what you liked/disliked or just what you thought, go ahead and leave me a comment!


End file.
